Nine Subsidyscope Charts for Nine Economic Sectors

QUICK SUMMARY

Pew's Subsidyscope charts illustrate the various forms of government spending across economic sectors and spending types in a way that is accessible to policy makers and the public.  The charts also show the magnitude of that spending, as well as total government exposure through loans and loan guarantees, using fiscal year 2010 data.

Key Findings

There are stark differences in how the government directs resources across different sectors of the economy. The charts found that:

• The most money is spent through grants, totaling $822.6 billion across all nine sectors.
• The housing sector contains six of the ten largest expenditures analyzed by Subsidyscope.
• The education sector has the largest amount in direct loans, totaling $87.8 billion in FY 2010.

Methodology

The charts include data from nine economic sectors, including agriculture; education; energy; health; housing; national defense; natural resources and environment; science, space, and technology; and transportation. Within each sector the data are presented in four categories: grants, tax expenditures, risk transfers, and noncompeted contracts.

Grants and contracts data are primarily from USAspending.gov, tax expenditure data are from the U.S. Department of the Treasury as presented in the Budget of the U.S. Government, and data on loans and loan guarantees are from the Federal Credit Supplement.